Joseph: A Fruitful Bough [Paperback]

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Five addresses on Joseph as a type of Christ.

From the Introductory Address: THE Scriptures testify of Christ. This is the declaration of the Lord Himself: “They are they which testify of Me,” He says, referring to the Scriptures. And He does not here refer to the Gospels, as some might suppose, for they had not yet been written. He is speaking of the Old Testament Scriptures. So throughout the whole of the Old Testament canon we may expect to find allusions, direct and indirect, to Christ. This is what makes it all so interesting. God has chosen a double method of bringing Christ before us in these ancient writings. He speaks of Him by direct reference, as in the 53rd of Isaiah, Deuteronomy 18:15, and in many other places. Then He shows us Christ in type and figure. In doing this, He uses inanimate things, such as the ark, the tabernacle, the manna, etc. He uses animals also, as the firstling of Abel’s flock, the Passover lamb, the scapegoat, sacrificial bullocks, and doves. But His most string and effective method of manifesting beforehand the character of the coming One was in the use of persons.

It is not my purpose now to point out to you all these persons. They are many. Some are named, and others are unnamed. A few are in a very manifest and full way typical of Christ; others are only so in a somewhat shadowy and mystical way. Seven stand out prominently from the general background of the less apparent. These are Adam, Melchizedek, Isaac, Joseph, Moses, David, and Solomon. There we have the perfect number, seven, giving us a perfect sweep of the sky of prophecy (“for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy,” Revelation 19:10) from the dawn of human history to the end of time. Adam (“figure of Him that was to come”— “the last Adam,” Romans 5:14; 1 Corinthians 15:45) heads the list; and Solomon, beautiful figure of Christ in His millennial reign, completes it. And in the five that come between we are given a good general outline of all the leading truths of Christ’s person, character, offices, and work.

And if we take the book of Genesis alone, we have in it also just seven men who picture Christ. This is only what we might expect, since the book has been called the “seed-plot” of the whole Bible, which means that all the leading truths of Scripture are found in Genesis in the germ. The seven are Adam, Abel, Melchezedek, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and Benjamin. Of course, three of this number do not stand out so strikingly as types as do the others, but they are nevertheless types unmistakably, if not so manifestly. For even the tricky Jacob, when “he served for a wife, and for a wife kept sheep,” in this toil of his for his beloved Rachel, typifies our Lord in His life of toil for the “bride of His heart’s deep longing,” His loved and ransomed Church.

But of all these typical characters, Joseph is, without doubt, the chief. He eclipses even David, who, though “a man after God’s own heart,” failed grievously, and in his sin could not in any sense be taken as a type of our holy, spotless Lord. But in Joseph’s life there is no recorded failure. He rises on the horizon of his time like a beautiful star, that shines on and sets without a single cloud to dim its brightness. He is the Sirius of the shining host of Old Testament typical men.

Joseph’s very name is suggestive of Christ. It means “adding.” At his birth his mother “called his name Joseph, and said, The Lord shall add to me another son” (Genesis, ch. 30:24). Let us see how this name “adding” suits our Lord.

Table of Contents

1. Introductory Address.: Gen 37:1-11

2. Joseph's Betrayal.: Gen 37:12-36

3. Joseph in Prison.: Gen 40

4. Joseph's Exaltation.: Gen 41

5. Joseph Made Known to His Brethren.: Gen 45